Oh, Those Summer Nights
by lisa2302
Summary: BrightHannah: A series of phone conversations between Bright and Hannah over the summer.
1. 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. I would love to own Chris Pratt, though and if anyone can tell me how to have a relationship as wonderful as Bright and Hannah's in my life, I'd gladly appreciate the advice.

**Title:** Oh, Those Summer Nights  
**Pairing:** Bright/Hannah  
**Rating:** PG (maybe PG-13)  
**Summary:** A series of phone conversations between Bright and Hannah over the summer. The first chapter is mostly set-up. The next chapter will start the phone conversations.

**Chapter One**

Five hours. Five glorious hours of replaying the most perfect kiss over and over and over in her head. Hannah finally understood why Amy always made such a fuss about Ephram. She'd always understood, but never really got it, you know? Now she did.

It had been five hours and Hannah was more than positive that an entire minute hadn't passed without remembering the sweat. Who knew that sweat could be such a wonderful thing? And the sweet smile he'd given her the moment she'd mentioned the normally gross sounding word.

He really was perfect. Perfect for her, at least. He got her and he saw all of her and he still wanted her. It was like a dream. She pinched herself again. It was still real. Hannah smiled and brought her fingers to her lips once again. The lips that he had touched. The lips that had met with his lips. Hannah fell onto her bed, the one she hadn't slept in for months and she stared at the ceiling. She was still on a high and the reality of her life and her dad hadn't really made it into her brain quite yet. Bright Abbott was officially the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Stuck in Everwood, Bright was having much similar thoughts. It hadn't been twenty-four hours since she'd left. Hell, the sun hadn't even started to set for the day and he was already missing her. Really missing her. His body missed her. His mind missed her. His heart, missed her. The two weeks she'd been gone earlier in the year had been dreadful and now she was going to be gone four times that long. It also didn't help that his feelings for her had escalated way more than he had ever intended.

Bright glanced at the clock again. Only twenty minutes had passed since the last time. This was going to be the longest summer of his life. Bright was in the kitchen making another sandwich, which had become a habit when missed Hannah, when Amy walked into the kitchen, phone in hand.

"Here," she said holding the phone out for him.

"What?"

"Call her."

"Call who?" He asked, never looking up as he continued to spread the mustard on his bread.

"I know what happened. Hannah called."

"So?"

"So, you took my advice once and look how well it worked out for you. Now, I'm offering it again. Call her."

"You said she just called."

"To tell me about the kiss." Amy taunted him with kissing sounds as she dangled the phone in front of him. "Just call her." She sat the phone on the countered and whistled all the way up the stairs.

Bright picked up the phone and pulled the number Hannah had given him earlier from his wallet. As he dialed the numbers, he cursed his sister for always being right.

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	2. 2

**A/N:** I couldn't find Hannah's last name anywhere, so I had to make one up. If anyone knows her real last name, please let me know so that I can change it. Until then, I'm using Ryan. Also, I couldn't find her mother's name or her brother's name and I'm pretty sure they've never been mentioned, so for the purposes of this story, her mother's name is Joan and her brother's is Josh.

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Oh, Those Summer Nights  
Chapter Two**

Time seemed to stand still as Bright waited ring after ring for someone to pick up and when someone finally did, it didn't really sound like Hannah. He even thought about hanging up for a second.

"Hello?" The voice asked again.

"Hannah?"

"Actually, this is Hannah's mother. Would you like for me to get her for you?"

"Yes. Please. Ma'am." The older lady chuckled at the boy's apparent nervousness.

"Can I tell her who's calling?"

"Bright. This is Bright."

"Okay, Bright. Just one second."

Once he was sure Hannah's mother was no longer on the line, Bright let out a long breath. He'd never really been all that great with parents to begin with, mostly because he'd met too many of them. And with Hannah her parents hadn't really been a factor, at least until now. He was pretty sure his first impression hadn't been the greatest.

Mrs. Ryan knocked lightly on her daughter's door.

"Come in." She smiled as her daughter raised her head from the notebook she was writing so enthusiastically in.

"The phones for you."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Bright," her mother replied simply. A smile spread wildly across Hannah's face, causing Mrs. Ryan to smile as well. "I trust you'll tell me more about this Bright friend of yours later?" Hannah nodded as she took the phone from her mother.

Joan shut the door and relief washed over her as a little of the guilt she still felt for sending her daughter to Everwood in the first place went away. Hannah was happy and that's all any mother could wish for.

"Hello?" And there was that voice - that sweet, steady voice that he had come to depend on for so much in the last few months. She was always solid when everything else around him was broken. She was always focused when everything else seemed chaotic. That voice and the girl behind it had gotten him through much more than either of them had realized. "Bright?"

"I'm here." He answered finally. A long silence fell over them.

"This is awkward, isn't it? It shouldn't be awkward, should it? We kissed and now things are going to be weird between us. Why aren't you saying anything? You always have something to say. I always have something to say and I have nothing. Look what we've done now. We've made a mess of things. I'm sure someone said something profound about this, but I can't remember. Oh god, now I'm stupid. This is…Are you laughing? Why are you laughing?"

"You're rambling."

"I am not."

"You are." Hannah paused and Bright knew he had won. "I like it. You look cute when you do."

"How would you know?"

"You ramble a lot, Hannah." She fell silent again. "And when you do, your forehead gets this little crease and your glasses start to slide a little farther down your nose. It's charming." Hannah pushed her glasses up.

"And now you're smirking." She could see that half smile, half smirk resting on his face in her head. It was one of the first things that she noticed about him. He always seemed confident. She knew now that he didn't always feel that way, but he did always look it.

He laughed. "Yeah."

"How's your mom?" She asked, moving along the conversation.

"Good. She's asleep now."

"That's good."

Another silence threatened at that point, but it never came. "How's your dad?"

"I don't know really. He's been asleep since I got home."

"Oh."

"But mom and Josh are talking now, so things are already better than when I left."

"Is he going to get the test?"

"He doesn't know yet. He said maybe and that's enough for her now."

"Maybe is always better than no."

"Yeah."

"So do you have any big plans while you're there?" He asked.

"No. I think I'm just going to hang around here. It's so weird to come back now."

"How?"

"I mean, my family's here and everything is pretty much just the same as when I left, but it's different, you know?"

"Because you're different." Bright replied.

"Yeah, I guess I am. Is that bad?"

"No. Why would you think that?"

"It's just that the last time I was here, I was on the same page with everyone else. We were all trying to deal and we were sad and now, I guess now I'm really not. I mean I am, but I'm not." She sighed. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"You are. At least I think you are. You're still sad that you're dad's sick, but…"

"But I'm happy with everything that's happening in my life. It's like he's still dying, but I just keep growing and changing. Everything is still falling apart for him, but everything is falling into place for me. Sometimes, I just feel bad."

"Because you're happy?"

"Yeah."

"You shouldn't."

"I know."

"You're dad wants you to be happy, Hannah. He doesn't want you to spend your life mourning all the bad things that happen to him or to you or anyone."

"Yeah. Sometimes it's just hard for me."

"That's because your heart's so pure. You're like Amy that way. You both want to take away everyone else's pain and sadness before you even think about yourself and when you can't, you feel bad for having moments of happiness when the people you love aren't."

"They should let you talk more often."

"Who's that?"

"Everyone. You have much more to say than anyone realizes."

"Except for you."

She smiled. "Except for me." A moment of silence passed between them. "Well, I guess I should go help my mom with dinner."

"Okay."

"I'll talk to you again?"

"You will," he replied simply.

"Good night, Bright."

"Night, Hannah."

Amy sat at the bottom of the staircase smiling. She hadn't intended on listening. She really hadn't. She'd just come down to get some juice, but once she'd heard him talking, she had to listen. Her big brother was finally growing up and the fact that he was going it with a girl as special as Hannah just made it that much better.

Please read and review! Thanks!


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